Sierra Sands green-lights telecom, Internet contract with E-Rate

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2013 at 12:12 PMFeb 26, 2013 at 12:14 PM

The Sierra Sands Unified School District Board of Education voted 5-0 Thursday, with one member absent, to approve contracts for telecommunication services, Internet services, data services and web hosting, supported by E-Rate.

By John V. Cianijciani@ridgcrestca.com

The Sierra Sands Unified School District Board of Education voted 5-0 Thursday, with one member absent, to approve contracts for telecommunication services, Internet services, data services and web hosting, supported by E-Rate.Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Elaine Janson said the district has participated in the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism, known as E-Rate, for several years. E-Rate provides discounts ranging from 20 to 90 percent depending on the level of poverty and urban/rural status. Sierra Sands receives an aggregate discount of 72 percent for its electronic-connectivity services.Technology Director Donnie Morrison said the district is applying for four priority-one services this year.“These are services we have been applying for in previous years, so there’s nothing additional,” he said. “However there are two contracts that will be with different vendors thanks to the Digital 395 Project.”The board approved the continuing two multiyear contracts for local dial-tone and PRI Service as well as entering into a new one-year contract for long-distance services with Verizon Business Network Services. The current contract for local dial-tone services ends June 30, 2017, the current contract for PRI services ends June 30, 2015, and the current contract for long-distance services ends June 30.Morrison said the annual estimates are $65,000 for local dial-tone services.“With the 72-percent E-Rate discount for our local-service contract, the total estimate is only $18,200 for Verizon Business Services,” he said.He said Internet services, historically, has been provided through Kern County Superintendent of Schools at an annual cost $25,788.“With the Digital 395 Project, we now have a competitive alternative,” Morrison said. “The contract through the California Broadband Cooperative is only $12,000 annually. With the E-Rate discount, we’re only looking at an annual cost of $3,360 for Internet service. The California Broadband Cooperative will provide a redundant connection for our Internet service, which is a pretty good deal because we’ve experienced quite a few Internet outages through the Kern County Connection that we had.”The board also approved a one-year $7,200 contract with the cooperative for data services to Rand Elementary School.Morrison said Rand is the only school not connected to the district through its wireless wide-area network because of the distance and challenging terrain between Ridgecrest and the Rand area.Historically, the data services contract for Rand was bundled in with the Verizon telecommunications contract and cost approximately $14,800 annually.With the discount, the total cost to the district would be $2,016 for data services to Rand School.Also approved was a web-hosting services contract with Blackboard Engage (formerly known as Edline) for $19,548.With the E-Rate discount, the total cost to the district would be $5,473.44 a year for Web Hosting services. Technology support funds will be used to fund the services.